Friday, August 03, 2012

Thinking outside the box with Baby Plum

Baby Plum is currently testing us. Not exactly our patience -- although he's testing that, too -- but our creativity when it comes to problem solving.

This sweet little boy is being forced to go through a whole lot of change, and he's fighting us on it. He's starting to pitch fits, and his screams put Little Elvis' to shame.

Right now, we are trying to get him to stop sucking his thumb, use the potty and sleep with his brother in their bunkbeds.

I hope I don't jinx myself, but he's finally getting on board with us on the potty-training front. We're not there yet, but we are moving forward. He gets to wear his big boy undies a good bit of the time now, and is very proud of this.

As for sleeping with Little Elvis. That's not going so well. Little Elvis wants to, and Baby Plum does too. At least he does at first.

Keeping the door closed didn't work. Moving his crib into their room didn't work. In fact, that little technique gave him the incentive to learn how to get out of the crib on his own. We were running out of ideas to keep our little Houdini in his room. Then somebody told my dad that we should put up a baby gate.
Since he can already scale one gate, Bob put up two. It kept him in for a couple of nights, although the boys fought a lot. We usually ended up giving up and separating them.

Bob was out of town last week. Little Elvis and I had a bad, bad time. During this time, I took all of their stuffed animals and pillows and toys out of the room. I put them in the hallway, and put the gates up. Little Elvis then got his little brother to knock down the lower gate and bring everything back into the room. Baby Plum felt guilty about his actions, and came to get me and show me what he had done. I took everything again, put it a different room and separated them. Then I cried. I cried a lot. Baby Plum climbed out of his crib and came back to get me. By this point, Little Elvis was asleep and I got Baby Plum to sleep in the bottom bunk. He was worn out by that point. So was I.

We're still using the double gate, but Bob still separates them eventually. School starts for Little Elvis next week. I don't think we'll have them bunking by then.

Baby Plum is also starting to show interest in Cheese Puff. By interest, I mean he likes to pick on his baby brother. Today, he wouldn't stop trying to pull my sweet baby's peach fuzz. He doesn't care to hide his actions, which is helpful. It's good to catch him before he hurts the baby.

As for thumbsucking, this is our current solution. The thumb paint didn't work. Duct tape didn't work. Gorilla tape worked for a bit. Then it didn't. Gorilla tape on both thumbs didn't work. Gorilla tape on pointer fingers and thumbs didn't work. A man at Sam's told Bob he built a splint type thing that wouldn't let his son bend his elbow, hence keeping his thumb out of his mouth. Bob decided to try a floatie. That lasted about an hour. Now, we're trying two. He tolerates it for a while, then he hates it. He managed to get them off twice today. So, back to the drawing board. Silly, silly boy.

About Me

Hi! I'm currently a stay-at-home mom to Little Elvis*(5 years old) and Baby Plum* (2.5 years old) and Cheese Puff* (newborn). They keep me very busy. Thanks for visiting!
*names have been changed to protect the innocent